The Party of Trump is the Party of Putin, a seamless attack on the 2020 election

When the history of this era is written the most remarkable story told will be how a failed state, the gangster kleptocracy of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, was able to defeat the most powerful democracy and defender of freedom in the world, the United States, by coopting one of its major political parties, and getting a “useful idiot” who serves the interests of Russia elected president. Russia won without having to fire a single shot in a hostile act of war.

What makes the story even more remarkable is that the political party Russia coopted, the Republican Party, for the better part of a century after the Russian revolution were anti-communist, anti-Soviet red baiters of their political opponents, from the red scare of the 1920s, to Joseph McCarthy’s red scare of the late 1940s and early 19650s, to the Cold War era military interventions to stop the spread of communism which only ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Russia’s success was made possible by the The Gerasimov Doctrine of asymmetrical warfare:

Gerasimov took tactics developed by the Soviets, blended them with strategic military thinking about total war, and laid out a new theory of modern warfare—one that looks more like hacking an enemy’s society than attacking it head-on. He wrote: “The very ‘rules of war’ have changed. The role of nonmilitary means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown, and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness. … All this is supplemented by military means of a concealed character.”

[R]ussia’s modern strategy is a vision of total warfare that places politics and war within the same spectrum of activities—philosophically, but also logistically. The approach is guerrilla, and waged on all fronts with a range of actors and tools—for example, hackers, media, businessmen, leaks and, yes, fake news, as well as conventional and asymmetric military means. Thanks to the internet and social media, the kinds of operations Soviet psy-ops teams once could only fantasize about—upending the domestic affairs of nations with information alone—are now plausible. The Gerasimov Doctrine builds a framework for these new tools, and declares that non-military tactics are not auxiliary to the use of force but the preferred way to win. That they are, in fact, the actual war. Chaos is the strategy the Kremlin pursues: Gerasimov specifies that the objective is to achieve an environment of permanent unrest and conflict within an enemy state.

The Gerasimov Doctrine could only succeed where a framework of disinformation media already existed which could easily be coopted. The conservative media entertainment complex, built upon a foundation of conspiracy theories, alternate reality and alternative facts, funded by right-wing millionaires and billionaires in the United States, provided fertile ground. I have warned in several posts over the years, The conservative media entertainment complex is an ancillary to Russian ‘active measures’ propaganda.

Last month, the Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Senate Intel report confirms Russia aimed to help Trump in 2016.

The parallel, if not coordinated, disinformation campaign run by the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence agencies in 2016 never ended. It has continued to this day. See, Franklin Foer’s deep-dive reporting in The Atlantic, Putin Is Well on His Way to Stealing the Next Election.

Evelyn N. Farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia from 2012 to 2015, in an op-ed at the Washington Post writes, Russia is interfering in our elections again. And Trump supporters are emulating Russian tactics.

In 2017, I cautioned that any candidate for office who was outspoken about Russia ought to worry about Russian interference in their election. At the time, I had no idea I would be one of those candidates. But this month, I saw my face plastered on a screen behind Fox News host Tucker Carlson as he, not for the first time, made false statements about me.

U.S. national security experts warned years ago that Russia would meddle in our 2020 elections. The reality is worse: President Trump’s supporters are mirroring Russian tactics.

In 2017, I was attacked by the far right as well as Russian actors after speaking publicly as President Obama’s deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia; today, the campaign against me appears to be domestic, albeit aided by Russian trolls. The political stakes are higher for all Americans this year, not just me. The tactics behind these attacks reveal a frightening development for American democracy.

In President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, disinformation and intimidation tactics are commonly used to silence domestic opposition. (So is murder.) False allegations, followed by contradictory, also false, narratives are the norm in Russian media and political discourse. Misinformation is so prevalent that many Russians are largely indifferent to what is actually true. In Trump’s America, similar tactics are taking hold. What began as a disconcerting nexus between Russia and the reactionary right in this and other countries has become part of the American right-wing repertoire.

I sounded the alarm early regarding ties between Trump, his advisers, and Kremlin officials and cronies. During an interview on MSNBC in March 2017, I said that I knew there was more to the story when media reports and statements by Obama administration officials and the intelligence community began unearthing connections between Trump’s campaign and Russia. I drew conclusions based on my expertise about Kremlin policy and operations, and my analysis of Trump campaign actions and conversations.

Attacks against me came first on Twitter and other social media platforms, from far-right sources. Forensics data I was shown suggested at least one entity had Russian ties. The attacks increased in quantity and ferocity until Fox News and Trump-allied Republicans — higher-profile, and more mainstream, sources — also criticized me. They and other conservative outlets accused me of leaking classified information and even wiretapping Trump Tower, allegations that distracted attention from growing evidence supporting my point. I and colleagues from the Obama administration were summoned to testify before the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee.

Transcripts from that 2017 testimony were released this month. My testimony demonstrated that I had not leaked intelligence and that my early intuition about Trump-Kremlin cooperation was valid, as the findings of the Mueller report and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s recently released conclusions reinforce.

Right-wing figures swiftly launched another disinformation campaign: claiming that I said on television that I had access to classified information to inform my concerns about Trump-Russia connections. I had said no so such thing, but this new fabrication supported allegations that the recently released testimony demonstrated I had lied on TV. This audacious, false accusation is so convoluted I have trouble following it — and that’s the point.

Trump surrogates, including former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News hosts such as Tucker Carlson have essentially accused me of treason for being one of the “fraudulent originators” of the “Russia hoax.” These attacks are part of Trump’s larger “Obamagate” allegations, a narrative that distracts attention from his administration’s disastrous pandemic response and attempts to deflect blame for Russian interference onto the Obama administration. This disinformation campaign seeks to color as illegal the Obama administration’s efforts to prevent and investigate Russia’s actions.

These high-profile accusations have been accompanied by a tsunami of online troll attacks targeting my congressional campaign. Our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, email, and phone lines have been overwhelmed with a stream of vile, vulgar and sometimes violent messages, emotionally exhausting staff and volunteers. As our team interacts with supporters online, the attacks spread to them. These intimidation efforts have compromised our work, incentivizing people to keep a low profile at a time when our campaign depends on robust public messaging ahead of the June 23 primary.

There is evidence that Russian actors are contributing to these attacks. The same day that right-wing pundits began pumping accusations, newly created Russian Twitter accounts picked them up. Within a day, Russian “disinformation clearinghouses” posted versions of the story. Many of the Twitter accounts boosting attacks have posted in unison, a sign of inauthentic social media behavior.

Here’s the truth: I wasn’t silenced in 2017, and I won’t be silenced now.

Our country must be able to conduct safe and fair elections, free from foreign interference and domestic intimidation. Americans must demand an end to the rampant dissemination of fake news through social media. Now, more than ever, we must fight for truth and for those speaking truth to power.

Evelyn Farkas’s main point — “In President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, disinformation and intimidation tactics are commonly used to silence domestic opposition. False allegations, followed by contradictory, also false, narratives are the norm in Russian media and political discourse. Misinformation is so prevalent that many Russians are largely indifferent to what is actually true. In Trump’s America, similar tactics are taking hold.” — was demonstrated in spades over the weekend by Russia’s “useful idiot” and his worthless piece of shit sons.

Gabrielle Bruney at Esquire reports, Donald Trump and His Sons Spent the Weekend Sharing Dangerous Conspiracy Theories:

Nearly 90,000 Americans have died and 36 million are out of work as the coronavirus pandemic’s toll continues to rise. Much of this pain was unavoidable. At nearly every level, elected leaders from both parties have failed to respond adequately to the virus and the severe economic fallout. But it’s the federal response, led by President Trump, that is the most inept.

The president could have responded swiftly instead of spending weeks downplaying the threat. He could have heeded the pandemic response plans that were in place for more than 10 years. But he did none of these things, and now researchers are saying that around 90 percent of the deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented with a swifter response to the outbreak. And with polls showing that Americans hold a largely unfavorable view of Trump’s pandemic response, it appears the inhabitants of Trumpworld have decided to strike back—launching an all-out disinformation campaign.

On Saturday, Eric Trump appeared on Fox News and promoted his dad’s claim from February that concerns over the coronavirus outbreak are a Democratic hoax. “They’ll milk it every single day between now and November 3, and guess what, after November 3, coronavirus will magically, all of a sudden, go away and disappear, and everybody will be about ‘reopen,'” he told Jeanine Pirro, referring to the Biden campaign.

“They’re trying to deprive [the president] of his greatest asset,” he continued, “the fact that he can go out there and draw massive crowds.”

"Biden loves this," @EricTrump says, talking about agonizing shutdowns during the pandemic… "They'll milk it every single day between now and Nov. 3, and guess what, after Nov. 3, coronavirus will magically all of a sudden go away and disappear… " pic.twitter.com/WS0CPQMtsj

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 17, 2020

The idea that the epidemic that’s caused such profound tragedy is just a devious scheme to stop Trump from rallying the base at Bojangles’ Coliseum isn’t just a remarkably toxic conspiracy theory, it’s one that poses a clear risk to the lives of anyone who swallows Eric Trump’s bait, and everyone else in their communities.

His older brother got in on the act, too. On Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. posted a meme that leveled the baseless suggestion that Joe Biden is a pedophile. He tweeted that he was just “joking around,” but then continued to send social media missives about Biden’s “gross habit of touching and sniffing young girls.” Biden has been accused of unwanted touching by seven women and of sexual assault by another, all of whom were legal adults. But if Don Jr. was sincerely concerned about Biden’s conduct, he wouldn’t be “joking around” about it or amplifying crass memes. And if he cared about sexual abuse at all, he wouldn’t be stumping for someone who has been accused of sexually assaulting 16 women.

Actually, the number is much higher. The 25 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.

Meanwhile, Trump himself maintained his usual Twitter stream of untruths and conspiracy theories. On Saturday, he simply tweeted the word “OBAMAGATE,” to remind us all of his current vaguely-defined and utterly fabricated pet theory that former president Barack Obama made some sort of criminal effort to undermine his presidency.

Politico‘s Jack Shafer theorized that as Trump’s “supporters and critics have grown numb to his previous rhetorical excesses,” the president feels a need to “cross new boundaries, violate new taboos, and break fresh panes of glass” to keep his audience engaged. And if that’s the case, his kids have definitely gotten the memo.

There’s also the polling, which shows him now trailing Biden with voters. Trump’s well aware that his base loves him because of his crude and outrageous behavior, not despite it. He’s never been able to offer them anything of substance, and now, when substantive governance is needed more than ever, he’s upping the antics.

Assuming that Trump voluntarily relinquishes the White House in a peaceful transition of power after losing the election, not at all a certainty, We need to prepare for the possibility of Trump rejecting election results, I would not be surprised in the least to see the Trump crime family jet off to Moscow where Putin has promised him sanctuary and no extradition for crimes being investigated by prosecutors in the United States.

The Trump crime family will be gone, but Putin’s fifth column of disloyal fellow travelers in the Party of Trump will remain a national security threat to the United States. As will the conservative media entertainment complex, an ancillary to Russian “active measures” propaganda.